ED files chargesheet against former RG Kar Principal in corruption case

Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a chargesheet on Friday against former hospital principal Sandip Ghosh and three other individuals in connection with alleged corruption at the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.

According to news reports, a lawyer present in the special ED court in Kolkata stated that the chargesheet includes Sandip Ghosh and two vendors who supplied medical equipment to the hospital during Ghosh’s tenure, allegedly violating tender rules.

Also Read:RG Kar victim's parents to set up hospital in her memory

In a related development, a special CBI court on Friday issued a non-bailable warrant against a former deputy superintendent of the hospital in connection with financial irregularities during Ghosh’s tenure. Notably, the former deputy superintendent had earlier acted as a whistleblower, seeking a CBI probe into alleged tender irregularities—a plea upheld by both the Calcutta High Court and the Supreme Court.

The ED’s Kolkata Zonal Office filed the prosecution complaint under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, based on an FIR registered by the CBI on August 24, 2024. The chargesheet, filed on November 29, 2024, alleged that Ghosh colluded with contractors to divert hospital funds, intermingling illicit proceeds with other funds and withdrawing cash to disguise the financial trail.

Medical Dialogues had previously reported that the special CBI court at Alipore rejected the chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital financial irregularities case, which names former principal Sandip Ghosh as the prime accused.

This case follows the conviction of Sanjoy Roy, a former civic police volunteer, for the rape and murder of the doctor, who initially exposed alleged corruption at the hospital. Authorities continue to investigate the broader network of officials and contractors involved in the fraudulent tender process.

“ED investigation revealed that the substantial amounts credited to accounts of the contractors received from the accounts of R G Kar College and Hospital were systematically diverted and siphoned off by colluding with contractors either by withdrawals through bearer cheques issued to their close associates or by transfers to associate firms and further withdrawn in cash, with the intent to conceal, disguise and project the Proceeds of Crime as untainted,” a press statement by the ED on Friday stated, reports the Hindu.

Also Read:RG Kar Corruption Case: Court rejects CBI's chargesheet against Sandip Ghosh